TY - EJOU AU - A., Idalba Hidalgo AU - Sojo, Felipe AU - Arvelo, Francisco AU - Sabino, Marcos A. TI - Functional Electrospun Poly (Lactic Acid) Scaffolds for Biomedical Applications: Experimental Conditions, Degradation and Biocompatibility Study T2 - Molecular \& Cellular Biomechanics PY - 2013 VL - 10 IS - 2 SN - 1556-5300 AB - The electrospinning technique is a method used to produce nano and microfibers using the influence of electrostatic forces. Porous three dimensional networks of continuous and interconnected fibers as scaffolds were obtained from a poly (lactic acid) solution. The concentration of the polymeric solution, 12.5% m/w, as well as the conditions of voltage (V=11kV) and tip-metallic collector distance (H=13cm) were established to develop these scaffolds through the electrospinning process. The characteristics of the scaffolds, such as fiber diameter, sintering and the biomimetics of the characteristics of a native extra cellular matrix were verified by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The orientation induced in the material as a consequence of the electrospinning forces was studied by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD).The same techniques were used to study the hydrolytic degradation of samples in a ringer solution (pH=7-7.4 at 37oC) for 12 weeks and showed evidences of superficial degradation on the microfibers. The suitability of these scaffolds for tissue engineering was studied through the primary cell culture of chondrocytes, by observing adhesion and cellular proliferation developed during 14 days of assay. KW - electrospinning KW - scaffold KW - nano and microfibers KW - poly(lactic acid) KW - biocompatibility KW - chondrocytes KW - tissue engineering DO - 10.3970/mcb.2013.010.085